Why there's no "the" before "shore"[/quote:3rbzeoi8]Originally Posted by Selexin
"Lovely woman" here doesn't refer to a specific woman but rather to all lovely women, so no article is needed; it's like a collective noun. Both Geddie and Johnny had been driven, in a sense, by the whole body of lovely womanhood, even though the actual woman was an individual.
Using shore without an article is a peculiarity of that word, very common in the spoken language. It sounds very east coast US to me. People even say "I'm going down the shore" rather than "...to the shore."